Skills Academy Upskilling And Invigorating Hospital Catering Assistants

Following on from the great success of the award-winning Chefs Academy training events programme, the Skills Academy was conceived and the first event delivered in May 2024 in Winchester. This new, ground-breaking series of events is aimed specifically at Catering Assistants. Catering Assistants an integral part of hospital catering teams, to expand their skills and knowledge. They can then take what they have learnt back to their everyday jobs in trusts. The Skills Academy has consistently been given top marks by participants and is being delivered by the superb NHS Supply Chain: Food Culinary and Dietetics Team.  

Catering Assistants do a lot of groundwork, such as prepping the kitchens, portioning and serving the food. We felt it was key to give something back to them, as without them the whole operation falls apart. With a lack of specific training available to them to develop their skills, the idea for this training came to me when I was an executive chef at a hospital in Bristol. I utilised the Catering Assistants in my role there, as much as I could as I feel they are the unsung heroes of the catering operation.

Michael Sharp, Culinary Specialist and the lead for the Skills Academy, NHS Supply Chain

This gap in training available to the Catering Assistants within hospitals provided NHS Supply Chain: Food with the opportunity to deliver something new for them. It increases their offer of support given to trusts. The catering is totally free of charge. It includes various elements such as different ways to prepare ingredients for dishes to enhance freshness, knife skills training, working on enhancing their knowledge of nutrition, allergens and food waste, and all with a focus on teamwork within operations.

The training day begins with an “ice breaker” where every attendee is given a banana. They write on the banana one thing that matters to them outside of work. There’s a discussion around this and then the team move on to producing a flapjack recipe, as demonstrated by the NHS Supply Chain: Food chefs. This ties in with the fact a lot of bananas were going to waste in hospitals. It inspires the attendees to use them rather than waste them when they go back to their workplaces.

The next part of the event is delivered by the NHS Supply Chain: Food Dietetics Team, Idrees Anwar, Lead Dietitian and Pirianka Louis-Montfort, Nutrition Compliance Manager. Idrees and Pirianka refresh and educate the attendees about allergens, through identifying them within commonplace ingredients they would find in their kitchens at any time. This helps them to be more aware of allergens such as soy. Idrees and Pirianka also move on to discuss portion control, and how to serve the right amount of food to be both appetising and nutritionally balanced.

Michael who looks after the South of England. His counterpart in the North Millie Morgan then show attendees the freshest and most tasty way to pre-prepare salads and other dishes. Rather than combining all the ingredients together they show them how to lay each food out one by one on a tray before refrigerating. The ingredients can then be combined the following day, therefore retaining the most flavour and freshness.  

Michael and Millie then offer their knife skills training. This includes how to sharpen a knife, how to work efficiently on a chopping board and knife safety. The last part of the training allows the Catering Assistants to put their training into practise. They prepare a number of salads. All these dishes are then served and the day finishes. Everyone enjoys lunch together and discussing what new things they have learnt, and what they can take back to their kitchens.  

The Catering Assistants leave the day with a greater confidence and an enhanced skills. They will then be better able to support the chefs in their hospital kitchens.

Skills Academy was really well received by all the team that joined. Following the day our team said they really enjoyed the day, especially the cooking element. I thought the engagement was excellent – as always the NHS Supply Chain: Food team were great, Millie and Michael kept the emphasis on fun. The allergen section of the day was well prepared and delivered, it got the team thinking and would imagine this will reinforce our current training. I think this form of engagement is helpful and promotes best practice, giving the team other sources of experience to learn from. I for one would certainly welcome and endorse more of the Skills Academy events and encourage other trusts to engage in them moving forward.

Nick Lee, Retail Catering Facilities Manager Leicester Royal Infirmary

See our Useful Links section to view more information about the Skills Academy.

The Skills Academy is aimed at junior members of teams. They are ideal for general Catering Assistants and those at the start of their catering career on apprenticeships.

To express interest in joining email us confirming your trust name, location and job title with your full contact details.

We are currently planning the rest of our Skills Academy events for 2025 and 2026. This may help determine which news areas we need to cover.